Hi Dan,I haven't got a photo of the fastening but I made a drawingRoughly halfway between the bridle-piece-fastener and the end of the boat I fixed a stainless steel L -shaped piece to the lip of the boat. This ss piece is fastened with 4 rivets (the bulging part of the rivet comes on the inside of the lip of course). To make the fit snug I filled the space between outer lip and L -shaped piece with epoxy, I basically glued the ss piece in place and secured it with the rivets. Don't forget to drill the hole (in the ss piece) through which you are going to fasten the new "beam". I have improved my original front beam design : at first it was just an aluminium tube with at both ends two aluminium end caps with holes in. The aluminium tube tended to bend with the pull of the tramp so I had to weld a triangle to it to make it stiffer. Anyway I improved on that now : I use a HC18 boom now = does not bend, I can actually stand on it while sailing (great place to be with the boat sailing at a nice speed, I hold on to the head stay and the water glides under me)To make the end caps I now use a great discovery I made : plastic !...Either Ertalon, Ertalene or even Nylon. I buy the solid pieces and can shape them myself to whatever is needed. No special tools required !In the groove of the front beam (or HC18boom) I fitted plastic O sliders that take the rope to tighten the tramp. At the rear end of the Front tramp (roughly under de front beam (holding the mast)) I used the very, very thick lip (that helps to fasten the front beam to the boat) to screw in two eyes on each side that hold the tramp at the back.Hope this helps, be sure to send me some pics should you install your own tramp !!!Michel

What a nice thread.. I have been wanting to fix up the 18 for cruising. I mounted a cheetah motor mount I got off ebay with the mount for the 18, mine is an 83 model. I found a 3.5hp two stroke mercury and it works great. The motor gets splash a bit so I placed a plastic bag over it when weather is rough.

_________________Andres.

Last edited by andrucho on Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

This would be sooooo much easier in the summer : I could take pictures of the set-up.Anyway, here we go, I have made a sketch :The custom made plastic pieces simply "rests" on the custom made ss L-shaped pieces (glued & rivetted on the lip)(see pictures at the very beginning of this thread to sea the place to fix the L-piece)The hole you have drilled through the plastic piece : align this with the hole in the L-piece.Under the lip (of the deck of the boat) you push through the hole you made in the lip and the hole in the L-shape a threaded ss piece (welded on a ss rod(see detail on drawing)). This thread sticks trough the plastic end piece, secure a nut on this thread : your forward tramp beam is secure ! Have a look at how the side shrouds are fixed to the lip of the deck and you get an idea of it !Securing the back part of the front tramp : the back end of this tramp is stitched with a thick rope with at both ends loops to secure the loops to eyes fixed in the tick part under the beam that bears the mast.The sides of the tramp glide in the same aluminium slides of the back tramp (take a look at the photo's on page 1 of this thread)These slide are riveted on the lips of the deck.Hope this helps you.....Michel

Hi Michael,You can use the same alu slide track as the one your main tramp is fixed to, same principle : use rivets to secure it to the lip (use ss rings (that you bend to the u shape of the underside of the lip), these bended ss rings secure the (expanded) rivet much better) So : drill a hole through the hole in the alu slide in the lip, put in the rivet, slip an ss ring through the protruding end of the rivet at the other (under)side, pull the rivet.I had the forward tramp custom made with my sailmaker here in Belgium, I think for 200€. I used a type of tramp that would lose the water from a big wave quickly but still have a surface that is comfortable to walk/rest on.Thanks for you appreciation of my work !! Success with you project, let me see some pictures when you are ready ?Thanks to Andres for his pictures of his motor set-up : nice to see different solutions for the outboard fixing !!Michel

Thanks for the pictures Andres, both our set ups look quite similar : aluminum bars fixed to the hulls. I like your very simple solution for securing the bars to hulls : foam ! Somehow I never was a firm believer in the Cheetah motor bracket system but yours works great, so...Michel

I too, foe some reason feel uncomfortable with cantilevering the weight and torque that a cheata mount exerts on the aft crossbar. So i was wondering if you could detail your rear crossbar motor mount set up.

You have a picture with a partial view of the outboard support beam in the beginning of this thread, some details are visible...I used an inverted rear beam, welded a piece of solid aluminium to the rear of this beam, covered the welded aluminium plate on both sides with thin strips of wood (to insulate the metal of the outboard against the aluminium support beam) I used the end castings of the original beam : took away quite a bit of aluminium to make them fit snugly over the top of the "lip" of the boat. Drilled holes through the top of the casting and aligned these holes with holes I made through the lip. Now the fastening was made by custom made SS rods : have a look at my second drawing in this thread, there you find something called Threaded Piece Welded On SS RodI used a similar TPWOSSR to fasten the rear beam, just slide this piece through the lip upwards through the holes in the lip and the holes in the end casting, fix the nuts and you' re ready !!!Last September went back to Corsica with the boat, alone this time, and took note to make a piece of trampoline to cover the gap between motor beam and actual beam : when choppy the water tends to hit the motor beam and splashes a lot.Let me know if everything is clear Brain.Michel